White Pine Investment CO Has $3.52 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

White Pine Investment CO boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 761 shares during the period. White Pine Investment CO’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Paychex by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after acquiring an additional 212,700 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.6% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,282,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,557,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 169.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $145.66 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. The company has a market capitalization of $52.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.67, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $142.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.